FAO Land Resources - Land & Water Discussion Papers

The review highlights the significant untapped potential for climate change mitigation and adaptation associated with improved management of grazing lands in pastoral systems and rangelands. Grasslands and rangelands deserve greater attention, not only for their large extent, widespread degradation and limited resilience to drought and desertification, but also for their potential capacity to sequester and store carbon in soils. Degradation of the land base negatively affects the accumulation of carbon in the soils. Thus, reversing land degradation in extensive dryland areas through improved pasture and rangeland management would contribute to restoring the soil carbon sink while also improving livelihoods of pastoral and agropastoral peoples. The review also highlights the multiple benefits of enhancing ecosystem services and processes for improving livelihoods while contributing to adaptation to climate change impacts. Realizing this potential will require increased awareness and coordinated global efforts alongside interventions that address associated socio-political and economic barriers, such as land tenure constraints and inadequate services for, and political marginalization of, pastoral and agropastoral communities. The opportunity to support climate change mitigation in drylands that will simultaneously contribute to climate change adaptation and reduced vulnerability of pastoral societies should be a key area of focus in post-Kyoto mechanisms.

Land evaluation is a vital link in the chain leading to sustainable management of land resources. There is a perceived need to update the FAO 1976 Framework for Land Evaluation to reflect current concerns related to climate change, biodiversity and desertification. The goods and services of the land that are related to its multiple functions or benefits as well as the sustainability of its use need to be addressed. New tools to conduct land evaluation have become available and the need for a participatory approach has been recognized.Many concepts and definitions of the original Framework remain valid; others evolved and new concepts arose over the past 25–30 years.